Whispers In The Dark
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: Things don't always go as planned... when an unscripted attack sets off a chain reaction that sends shockwaves out and brings up the trauma that first sent Amanda into silence, will she recover completely from it?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Natia is Hero Is My King's character.**_

 _ **WWE Extreme Rules pay per view,**_ **Amanda's perspective…**

Aw… damn it… damn Bray!

I don't know how I'm still standing but I feel my newly won Cruiserweight Championship fall out of my hand and turn around, a half broken kendo stick in Bray's hands and Finn immediately at my side, holding me up.

"What… the fuck?!" I ask, quickly escalating to shouting.

"Mandy… damn it, I'm so sorry!" Bray says in complete panic, Finn pulling me out of the way… and with good reason.

Seth's rage has taken control of him and he's started beating Bray up, my eyes closing and me burying my face into Finn's right shoulder as soon as I see blood pouring from Bray's head.

No… not again! It's not Bray I see on the ground, it's Alex!

"Seth, you're frightening her! Stop!" Finn shouts, the shouting muffled by him covering my ears as I try to stop myself from crying.

The next muffled shouting I hear is between Roman, Seth and Joe… I don't need to open my eyes to know that they pulled him off of Bray.

"Mandy?" Finn whispers, his arms around me and his right hand resting on my back.

"Is he… dead?" I manage to ask, my eyes still closed as tears streamed down my face like rain.

"He's unconscious… but he's still breathing. He'll be okay, love." Finn says quietly… but I can tell he's shaken up by this too.

Who wouldn't be?! Seth was on a damn murderous rage!

And it's far from the first time he's beaten someone into oblivion.

 **Natia's Perspective, Backstage…**

"Is it over?" I ask quietly, my eyes snapped shut and me clinging onto Kurt's arm.

"It's over, kiddo…" Kurt says, my eyes opening as Joe and Finn help a traumatized Mandy through the curtain and we run to them.

Mandy lets out a shrill scream when she hears us though and backs away, her eyes still closed as Finn pulls her into his arms… Goddamn you Seth, do you see the terror you caused her?!

Her eyes eventually open, I can tell by her looking up at Finn as they hold onto each other… there's a red welt forming on the back of her right shoulder and neck.

I walk over, resting my hand on her right arm and she looks at me… an absolutely haunted look in her eyes.

"He's gonna be okay, Mandy." I say, Mandy letting a small nod out… she's reliving it again, Roman had told me what happened to Alex Riley when Alex had walked into the wrong room and passed out next to Mandy when she was asleep.

Joe walks over to us with an ice pack and some tape, us helping Mandy sit down and taping the ice to her back… but she's still so quiet.

I head off towards Seth's locker room, kicking the door open and making him jump back.

"Natia, it wasn't intentional-" Seth starts to say, me slamming my fist into his face after slamming and locking the door.

"She's never gonna forget what happened out there! Bray used too much force but unintentionally! You deliberately beat him into unconsciousness and traumatized Mandy!" I yell in between blows to his body until he's down on the ground.

 **Finn's Perspective…**

I've rarely seen Mandy go this quiet over the time that we've known each other… damn it, no wonder she didn't want to tell Seth what was going on, it was that damn attack on Alex that left her basically scarred, no matter how much she tries to hide it.

We hear the stretcher nearby and Mandy stands up and runs to it, Bray stopping her as I catch up to them.

"How's… your back, kiddo?" Bray asks her, his on screen character long gone now. Mandy turns around, Bray seeing the ice pack taped to her before she turns back to him… and it hits him just how quiet she is. "It's happened again… Finn, stay by her side. She'll talk again." He says before lightly kissing Mandy's left hand and letting the paramedics wheel him away.

I remember it now… back when she and I were just friends, Mandy once said that she didn't talk for three weeks back in 2007, just after the double murder-suicide.

I pull Mandy into my arms again, her hanging onto me and the only sound from her mouth is her breathing…

Damn you Seth!

Natia walks over to us, her hands bruised and bleeding and Mandy looking at her.

"He's conscious… but he's gonna be hurting for a while." Natia says, Mandy nodding.

Silence from her is more eerie than the screaming.


	2. Chapter 2

_**10 years ago...**_

" _Hey… sorry that took so long." The man lying on the king sized bed heard, looked away from the Tv and saw Amanda standing a few feet away, red and black pajamas on, her makeup off and her hair soaked… but Chris Benoit knew what had delayed Amanda's shower._

 _It wasn't exactly the shower itself... it was that Amanda, despite not admitting to it, was hurting._

 _A reddish purple bruise took up most of her right shoulder, the bruise the result of Amanda crashing into the barricade. Chris sat up and moved back on the bed a few inches._

" _Come here, little one." Chris says in a gentle tone, Amanda walking over and sitting down after handing him the towel she had been holding. Chris reached over, lightly wringing the water out of Amanda's long hair and rubbing the towel against it… when the two first met, he had thought of her as a student._

 _Now he considered her one of his family and wanted to help ease the pain she was feeling, making sure she didn't move that aggravated shoulder._

" _First thing tomorrow, we're going straight to the doctor." Chris says after running a brush through Amanda's hair like he had done countless times with his daughter Megan, Amanda looking over her left shoulder at him after her hair was in a ponytail. "Don't fight me on this on, you can barely move your right arm." He says, having gone through that kind of pain himself from the neck injury he suffered nearly six years earlier._

 _Amanda nodded as Chris kissed her on her forehead… six years, the two had known each other because John used to bring her to the events or bring her along with him during the summer… three years since Chris started training her and Amanda caught attention quickly._

 _He wanted to be around to see her career flourish, see her live out all her dreams…_

 _Neither one of them knew that moments like these were starting to become numbered._

 _Six months later, Amanda was wandering the hallways nervously. Multiple attempts to get in touch with Chris, Nancy and little Daniel went unanswered after the texts that she, Chavo and referee Scott Armstrong received from Chris's and Nancy's phones and they had brought it to John Laurinaitis's attention._

 _The last time Amanda had heard from Chris was on Amanda's birthday back on the 20th… and it was worrying her because on that day, he seemed so much like his normal self._

 _Amanda stopped when she saw Hunter and Vince talking, both having looked like they'd been crying. Hunter turned and looked at Amanda… and she knew right away why all attempts to contact the Benoit family had failed._

 _The second Hunter walked towards her, Amanda turned and ran, not wanting to be comforted, not wanting it to be true… Amanda screamed out as she fell, bashing her recently healed nose against the floor and breaking it again._

 _Amanda felt Hunter pull her up to where she was able to sit and him putting his left hand on her nose, resetting it and making Amanda scream in pain before he pulled her into his arms, lightly stroking her hair as she sobbed._

" _It… no, please! They can't… Hunter, please tell me it's..." Amanda tried to say, Hunter dissolving into another round of sobs himself._

" _I'm sorry, kiddo… they're gone." Hunter says through his tears, him and Amanda hugging each other as both cried for the family they loved like their own… the one they would never see again._

 _Checking on Amanda the next morning before the ECW taping, Hunter walked into the hotel room she was in to find her eerily quiet and walked over to her… and on the bedside table was a handwritten note._

' _Why did you do it, Chris?! Why?!'_

 _Hunter knew from looking at her that Amanda had been up all night, unable to sleep and had found out the horrifying truth… stretching out next to her after pulling the half kicked off covers over her, Hunter took the small diva into his arms, her only response being a blink._

" _I don't think we'll ever know why, kiddo… it's not fair, to anyone." Hunter whispers, lightly stroking Amanda's disheveled curls._

 _Amanda just blinked again before finally, after seven exhausting hours, fell into sleep, Hunter kissing her on her forehead._

" _You just rest, Mandy Rose… rest that weary mind." Hunter whispered._

 _The silence was eerie… and it had the Cerebral Assassin deeply worried about the mental state of the finally sleeping girl in his arms..._

 **Present time, Finn's perspective…**

Bray said to stay by her… so that's what I'm gonna do.

Mandy's using one of my shirts as a replacement for her pajamas tonight, the makeup scrubbed off of her face and the ice pack long gone as I lie down and take her into my arms, Mandy's face instinctively burying into my left shoulder.

"I'm… no expert in dealing with silence from trauma like this, my love. But I'm not going anywhere, I'm never leaving your side." I whisper, her head tilting up and her eyes looking at mine before we kiss.

It isn't long before her breathing is calmer, she's less tense than she was earlier… but it's still there.

Her eyes blink twice, that look in them appearing and I rub my right hand up and down her back, being careful of the welt left behind by the kendo stick… I know Bray didn't mean it.

And I know Seth didn't mean to send Mandy into silence… but he still did.

 **Amanda's perspective, the next morning…**

It's raining… but Baltimore's weather is similar to Florida's at times.

I glance at my phone, seeing that… it's Monday?!

What the hell happened?! Last thing I remember is getting ready for the pay per view… why can't I…

It happened again… a quick look to my right tells me that Finn is here.

He stayed by my side, stayed with me… through another relived trauma.

"Finn?" I say quietly, my voice croaky as his eyes opened… and he pulled me closer to him, the two of us hugging.

I never want to be silent again… now it's time to fill in the gaps in my memory.


	3. Chapter 3

_**July 2007...**_

 _It was three weeks into Amanda Rose Cena not talking. Chris Benoit and his family were part of a murder suicide and Amanda didn't know how to cope._

 _Vince gave his speech on Monday Night Raw, the week after he had died, saying goodbye to a legend and his family, but also saying that his children and Amanda will carry on the Benoit name._

 _Amanda was standing next to John and Hunter while Vince was in the ring._

 _She was watching her brother's boss making the speech and it broke her heart to say goodbye to someone important to her._

 _David Benoit was shocked. He had talked to his father the week before their deaths and he was normal, playful even, but now that he was_ _gone David and Amanda just looked at_ each and didn't know what to think.

 _"Now here is the most important speech to someone who I see as a daughter and to my kids as a sibling,_ _Amanda Rose Cena." Vince said in his_ _scratchy voice._

 _The crowd cheered because they knew that beside David, Chris was_ _the most important person to Amanda._

 _ **Amanda's perspective...**_

 _I was nervous as I gripped the mic... the crowd cheered because they knew that beside David, Chris was the most important person to me._

 _I gripped John's hand, not wanting to let go and make a fool of myself on national Tv where millions of people at home watching and the audience here._

 _Hunter gave me a nod and John gave me a kiss on my forehead and hug, whispering that I could do this._

 _For Chris and his family... I nodded and walked up the metal steps._

 _I hugged Vince and the crowd's cheers died down to hear her speech. I looked at the mic in her hands and took out a long deep breath. I looked at the tron where Chris's picture was showing._

 _Could I do it?_

 _"Chris Benoit was..._ " _I started out. "He was like a father to me. And when I heard the news that he, Nancy and Daniel were gone I couldn't handle it anymore. I lost someone who I looked up to, who was my teacher, brother, father and best friend. I knew Chris since I was ten years old where I accidently in on him changing."_

 _The crowd laughed… and so did I. "But I know that if was here that he wipe away my tears, Daniel would give me a hug, and Nancy would play mama bear and coddle me until I was better. They have and always be my family and I will always be a Benoit because in my heart I know that what Chris wanted was for me to not mourn his lost, but embrace it. So that's what David and I plan to do. Is to make sure the Benoit name is never ever forgotten."_

 _The crowd was louder than ever. The building started to shake and the roster charged into the ring to hug me._

 _I wrapped myself in Hunter, John and eventually, Stephanie's arms where I cried my eyes out._

 _Later into the night, I stayed with Hunter and Steph in their room with her brother where I'd had my last conversation with Chris and his family was at the dinner table with David talking about what they wanted to do in the future and how Daniel wasn't_ _allowed to see the new supernatural_ _vampire movie with Chris and Nancy._

 _But when Hunter had heard about what had happened, he knew I couldn't look at that movie ever again not without crying over our lost, fallen family._

 **Present time, Normal perspective…**

Amanda was in her and Finn's hotel room, the two watching Tv as Seth, Dean and Roman were in the next room.

The former Shield brothers have never seen her be so quiet beforehand.

She was watching the news on Sport Center of what had happened on Raw the night before when she heard a knock on the door.

Amanda got up and saw Hunter on the other side of the door after opening it.

He gave her a crooked smile and asked, "You alright, kiddo?"

Amanda leaned against the door, she shrugged and opened the door wider for him.

Hunter walked in and saw a slow motion replay of Amanda getting her back welted by a kendo stick. He looked at Bray from behind, who had a crazy look in his eye.

Hunter shivered a bit and turned to the small diva, who was looking at the same thing but with a somber look on her face.

"Yeah..." Amanda said after a few seconds. "But just seeing Seth beat the hell out of Bray like that brought back memories of Alex Riley passing out right next to me."

Hunter nodded and pulled the small Diva into his arms. He felt terrible about what had happened to Riley. It was heartbreaking to hear it from someone but scarier to see a heartbroken look on Amanda's face.

"What do you think we should do with Seth?" Finn asked after wrapping his arms around her and felt Amanda twitch when he mentioned Seth.

Hunter wrapped the back of his neck and sighed. "I have no clue. Steph says we should suspend him for a month at the least, but I say a month and two weeks. He could learn his lesson on scaring our employers, not damage our wrestlers, and scare our audience away." Hunter said. "If he wanted to be wild and crazy, he could go to TNA like the Hardys did before they came back to family friendly Tv."

Finn nodded and Amanda pulled away from her man. "I agree with you, Hunter. But he shouldn't leave to go to a more aggressive wrestling show. Just keep him away from everyone for a while and any part of action for a bit too, but when he comes back make sure to have a storyline lined up for him and Bray. Make it bigger than Randy disbanding himself from the Wyatt family."

Hunter smiled at the idea. He looked at Amanda and asked jokingly "Are you sure you don't go talk to the writing team and get ideas for our show?"

Amanda laughed and shook her head. "Nope. Hunter, I'm fine. I'm talking again so that's good. I just needed sometime and disgust what was happening." Hunter nodded and pulled Amanda in for a hug.

They talked for a little bit longer until it was noon and Amanda wanted to go see Bray.

Once the couple got to Bray's room the door was cracked and they heard talking.

 **Amanda's perspective...**

I looked at Finn, who shrugged and cracked the door just a bit more. We saw Bray laying on the bed with Jojo lying next to him.

Jojo gasped and the couple separated.

"Your divorce papers finalized?" I managed to ask Bray.

Bray looked to Jojo before turning to Finn and Amanda. "Not yet. Kids… Samantha's dragging it out."

I never thought that Bray and Sam's relationship would go down like this, they were the cutest couple I knew and never seemed to have any major arguments… but then again Lita and Matt were cute and stable before things went south and I stopped talking to both as well as Edge for a while.

"You're not mad are you?" Jojo asked.

Jojo had always been a shy and sweet girl… how could anyone be mad at her?

I wasn't mad… or shocked.

"No, I'm not mad, Jojo. Just when did this happen?" I asked. Finn had placed his hand on my shoulder, I sighed and nuzzled his hand.

"It had happened when Sam and I separated. It just happened when Jojo and I got drunk and started to play 'Never Have I Ever'." Bray explained.

"Seriously?" Finn asked. "A game for 14 year olds?" He chuckled and I started to laugh.

Jojo rolled her eyes and Bray shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah. We've heard it from the others. We're happy and I can't wait to see where life takes us now." Bray said as Jojo turned to him and they started to kiss.

We waved goodbye to the couple and Finn shut their door.

 **Finn's perspective...**

"Well that was different." Mandy said. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at me. I was smiling at my girl… it was good to hear her voice again. "What?" She asked.

"We were and still are like that, love." I said. "I feel bad for the people who stay in the rooms next to us. Just think of the people who are going to be around them now." I say before I gestured towards the couple's door.

Mandy smiled and pulled me in for a kiss, my arms wrapping around her as we kissed… Bray was alright, no longer hospitalized.

The next thing to deal with was Seth… and it wasn't gonna be easy to.


End file.
